Monthly Archives: January 2009

The 4th Circuit’s 2003 test for a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act does not survive a new U.S. Supreme Court decision, and the 4th Circuit court holds the district court must reconsider under the new test whether ...

A company that made certain concessions to allow union representatives access to employees during a union organizing campaign did not provide “things of value” under federal labor law that can provide the basis for a RICO suit filed by a ...

A man who told a bank teller, “They are forcing me and have a gun,” and handed her a note saying “people” were forcing him to demand money from the teller, provided a factual basis for his guilty plea to ...

After resentencing of this Virginia death-row defendant who claimed his lawyer had an actual conflict of interest, the 4th Circuit vacates the district court’s life sentence because that court erred in concluding defendant was no longer eligible for the death ...

Two defendants who pleaded guilty in 1998 to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base are eligible for a sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2), after the retroactive amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine offenses, the 4th Circuit ...

In Virginia, the taxpayers pick up the tab for civil litigants who exercise their right to a jury trial. One Virginia senator wants to make a small change in that practice. Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Daleville, has introduced legislation that would ...

A covenant not to compete in an employment contract created an ambiguity in the agreement and cannot be enforced by the drafter, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today in an unpublished order. A physician signed a three-year contract with ...

A young man killed in an auto accident who was staying temporarily with his parents until he could move into a friend’s house was not a “resident relative” and does not have coverage under his parents’ insurance policy, a Chesterfield ...

The Commonwealth’s Attorney for Danville is retiring after 39 years. William H. Fuller III has announced he will not seek re-election this year, reports the Danville Register Bee. Fuller has been the city’s chief prosecutor since 1970. UPDATE: Senior Assistant ...

The annual effort to establish new custom license plates continues. The latest, per House Bill 1701, is a plate that allows a driver to declare him/herself to be a “SEAFOOD LOVER.” The plate is being promoted by the Virginia Marine Products ...